Wednesday, January 09, 2008

According to new coach Rich Rodriguez, Michigan receivers Mario Manningham and Adrian Arrington along with QB Ryan Mallett are no longer on the Wolverine football team. None of the three players showed up for a team meeting on Monday.

Arrington and Manningham apparently are going declare themselves eligible for the NFL draft while Mallett apparently will be transferring. While definitely a blow to the 2008 squad, none of the departures come as a surprise.

However, what was sort of telling were Rodriguez's comments about the players at halftime of yesterday's Michigan b.ball game:

"Obviously with Mario and Adrian they made a decision they thought would help them professionally and decided to come out early. We wish them well. That's about all I have to say about that."

Ooookay. Not exactly a warm, fuzzy good-bye. But seeing as they weren't "his" players, not entirely shocking. However, what was much more telling where his remarks regarding Mallett:

"I don't care. He's not playing for Michigan. I'm concerned with who's playing for Michigan, that's my concern."

This in the wake of his words earlier in the day on Jim Rome's radio show:

"I talked to him (Mallett) and all our quarterbacks about how our system adapts to the quarterback. If we get a throwing quarterback, we've had ones who have gone on to have great careers and to the NFL and all that."

"But I (spoke to Mallett) a couple of times. I recruited him once, I recruited him twice, but after the third call, it's, 'OK, three times is enough for me.' It's three invitations. If somebody doesn't want to be here, then we should all move along."

TRANSLATION: Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

I must say, I like a coach who basically says, Nobody is above the program. This is about team. And if you're here for something besides that, we don't want you.

35 comments:

We already know more about what is happening in Michigan Football than we ever did before. This could be a good thing, or a not so good thing. These kids leaving, I am not worried about, and I like R2's thinking. We don't want kids here who don't want to be here. Plain and simple. I think you pegged it right though Yost, we are in for a ride. We have been riding the same roller coaster for so long that we know every up and down that is coming. We just stepped on to a ride that we have no idea what is coming around the corner, I am hoping it is a wonderfully thrilling ride. Just remember folks, sometimes to get the biggest excitement, you have to dip down to some lows. I hope the Michigan fan base is ready for a few of those. (hopefully not too many of them though!)

I think Mallet is an idiot and killing his future career. There's a reason MI has been known as QB U over the last few decades and I really don't see that changing too terribly much with RR here. Mallet should have seen in the Florida game that a non mobile qb can really excel in a spread offense and should have been excited for next year. But instead he can go cry somewhere else and go to UCLA where they will be fortunate to win 7 games a year. Good riddance.

For 2008 though now what? Even if we get Pryor did we really want a true freshman coming out to lead the team under a new coach and new style of offense? That doesn't sound to hot to me.

perhaps Mallett can see that RR has been responsible for ONE nfl qb in all of his years of coaching, and Shaun King is barely an NFL qb. maybe he went to Michigan because of it's history of preparing quarterback's in a prostyle offense, and now is faced with running a spread or spread option for the next 3 years.

i don't know what type of schooling he'll get from Neuheisel, but transferring to UCLA didn't seem to hurt Troy Aikman very much way back when - and Neuheisel has been credited with helping to develop Aikman

Personally, I don't like the new transparency. I don't know what it serves except satisfying and fueling our own curiosity, and now we're all parsing his words to infer behind-the-scenes drama and hidden motivations. I'd like to think that tension and conflicts between a nineteen-year-old and a fortysomething head coach could stay within the team, and that he could just let Mallett go without the passive-aggressive, slightly bitchy (for lack of a better term) remarks.

I agree with Rich Rod on this one. Love the blunt and honest response. Quite refreshing actually.

Mallet is the anti-Jake Long. He has never, and will never care about his college program. For all the trash the national audience of the Capital One Bowl saw him talking from the sideline during the Florida game Michigan has always been a means to an end for him, a one way ticket to the pros where he can show off his “superior” talent. Don’t get me wrong, the kid has a boatload of skill, but his attitude has always been questionable. Between his jib jab with Lloyd on the sideline, to his reported threats to transfer because, *sniff sniff*, “it’s too cold!” Mallet has always acted for himself and not the program.

As for concerns with Pryor, I actually think his adjustment period might be smoother than Mallet’s might have been. He runs the spread option at his HS in Pennsylvania, and as evidenced by the HS All American Game, he does so extremely effectively. He already knows how to make the read off the defensive end, and while arguably he will have to learn to adjust to the increased speed of the game, he shouldn’t have too much trouble implementing that style of offense. Where Mallet had the obvious advantage was arm strength, but even he would have to learn to make his reads on passing plays as he didn’t get a lot of play time last season (at least not with the full playbook) and Rich Rod is implementing a completely new offense anyway. On top of that, his accuracy and decision making was always a big question mark most notably evidenced by his time in Illinois game. Sure, Pryor is not going to come in and set any passing records either, but his knowledge of the spread and ability to move makes him much more dangerous offensively and should buy some time for him to make things happen on plays where things fall apart. I’ve got to be honest, I don’t expect much from Michigan next season, we’re going to have our hands full with OSU, and it is very reasonable to think that former Big Ten pushovers may cause us some additional problems. All that said, I’d rather get the true freshman (who is more likely to commit to UM in the first place if Mallet is gone) in there with a chance to gain some hard earned experience in tight games than have a sophomore play who may or may not be the starter in his junior/senior year just to fill time and prevent him from transferring. The final words on the short-lived Mallet era at Michigan are good riddance.

Apparently you are forgetting that Rich Rod has never had a Rivals Top 100 player at the QB position graduate while he was coaching. He is known as a coach with a particular knack for doing extraordinary things with ordinary players (see his BCS Bowl record… oh… sorry that must hurt a bit). His recruiting classes have never cracked the Top 20, the result of sub-par in state recruiting and a real difficulty selling West Virginia to outside talent. All that said, he still somehow picked up Noel Devine, Steve Slaton and Pat White, and made them into one hell of an offensive machine.

That’s what he hasn’t done, here is what he has. He took a pro-style passer into the spread offense, basically ran a shotgun set with four wide and went undefeated at Tulane. He took the afore mentioned Shaun King, a more than virtual nobody, and implemented an offense that made him somehow, and this is nothing short of a miracle, NFL worthy in the eyes of the scouts. I agree with you that the East Texas boy who grew up cheering on the Cowboys probably idolizes Aikman and wants to follow in his footsteps at UCLA under Neuheisel, but you have to figure he’s pretty foolish to pass on the opportunity to throw the ball 40+ times a game for the next 3 seasons. You know this offense. The one that torched the “SEC speed” of Florida during the Capital One Bowl. It looks (amazingly!) like the spread that got lesser talents (the Colt Brennan of the world) onto the national stage and into the Heisman voting. That’s what Mallet had on the table. Let’s call this kid what he is. He’s a bit of a brat and a definite complainer who (in the mold of all those top recruits at Arkansas last year) want it his way or the highway. Well son, there’s the door, you better get going.

This does not mean he will not be a great quarterback at UCLA or wherever else he ends up. He does have a lot of raw talent and confidence, he just has to get the attitude in check. Crimenotes, I am rethinking my previous statement. While I do like Rich Rod’s blunt response, I agree, a nationally televised argument with a 19 year old kid on his way out the door is not the message we want to send about Michigan Football. That sounds more like standard practice from those guys up in East Lansing (“I’m telling (Hart) this. This isn’t over!”). We should expect better than that.

I think things would have been fine with a simple, "I've had several conversations with Ryan and it's clear to me that he'll be moving on. We wish him well." Plus, McGuffie has mentioned that he talks to Mallett frequently, that they're a lot alike, etc. RR sending this kind of passive signal through the press about a pretty immature guy who we all think is a knucklehead to begin with, I just don't know what good it does.

When Bo came in he was a mean crazy bastard to everybody, probably more intense than RR, but he wasn't sending signals about his players via talk shows.

As to Mallett, he seemed to have an attitude problem and the potential to be a liability to morale, but we don't really know. He and MM didn't like each other, but MM was a prima donna too. Mallett was put in the spotlight prematurely. Unlike Henne in his freshman year, he didn't slip into place easily. If anything his struggles showed what a talent and class act Henne was from the start. Mallett had a lot of maturing to do, yes, and maybe he never would have paid off, but I have a hard time seeing this as anything other than a net loss. Even if he never panned out, there was a high-reward potential here.

The bowl results may be a good encouragement for Pryor to come to Michigan ("Look how we rolled Florida; it's a new era; OSU was overwhelmed.") but if not, Threet's supposed to have a lot of talent.

It seems our future rests on if we get Pryor. If not then what? Who do we have left? Has a National stage powerhouse ever lost it's starting and backup qbs in the same off season? Usually there's a no name backup who never played but has been with the team for a while to step in and take over.

Crimenotes, you wouldn't know an interesting analysis if it hit you in the face.Just kidding Notes...you can probably guess who this is. In fact, I totally agree with you regarding the appropriate level of transparency for the program, and the war of words with a pretty immature kid such as Mallett. How unusual is it to hear all of this after well over a decade of the contrasting approach of Coach Carr's? He NEVER would have gone down this road. Yet another check in his favor as an ambassador of the program.

besides Brohm and Henne, you have a bunch of has-beens or never will be's.

you'll also be happy to know that hart and long were NOT on the list, but Jamison, Dutch, Galimore, and Alex Mitchell were

again it's all hype

as for this amazing passing offense that you're getting...

wvu was ranked #112 in the nation in passing this season

every one of rrod's last 5 wvu teams were ranked #90 or lower in passing yards

he's not going to scrap his system just because he's coming to michigan - he's going to end up running the same system in a year or two, as soon as he has his type of players (small and athletic) on board. shaun king is the ONE player in what 12 years of his coaching and assisting that had any kind of good career under him.

all i am saying is that it's not totally unclear why mallett would want to move on to the type of offense that he signed up for.

My worry is that his playcalling might be too predictable. That's what the disgruntled WVU fans are saying, but they say a lot of things.

Manningham's grandfather said that RR was kind of jumping the gun, and that MM hasn't made up his mind yet. I find this believable, as I heard from someone involved with the team that MM couldn't stand Mallett and said that he wouldn't return if Mallett did. They certainly didn't seem to get along. I think that Mario might still be trying to decide.

There are also MM's post-game comments, in which he said that he wanted to finish his degree. He might have just missed the team meeting.

Don't get me wrong here. I am not a huge Manningham fan. He's kind of a bum, and there was a good reason that he never wore #1. I really hate that Arrington is leaving.

Oh, and Mallett's a punk. I've heard this from other students who have encountered him. He's started fights at parties since second semester last year. I have also met him, and I can confirm that he is a jerk.

I never said Rivals was the be all and end all as far as predicting a players future success is concerned, but that being said certain metrics employed by Rivals to measure players (i.e. arm strength, accuracy, speed, physical build) are definite indicators of ability, and would certainly have an effect on a coach’s confidence to throw the football. By the way, as far as your list is concerned, while Henne’s class may have been short on QB talent, there is no doubt the folks over at Rivals have some idea what they’re doing. Here’s a few more guys that made that top 100 list:

And it goes on… This is just since 2004. Obviously lots of guys don’t necessarily pan out, and of course you can’t get every player onto the Top 100 list (there is definitely a preference for skill position players, specifically RB and WR) but c’mon. Jake Long was a 4 star recruit (no slouch) as was Troy Smith. Granted Lauranitis came out of no where, but give it a rest. The bottom line is that these guys are solid players, with real natural talent. How they are brought along and developed and what their attitude is like may be another story. Look at all the LSU stars on here, btw. You can’t tell me the Rivals list is bogus or overrated, they all just got finished stomping on you.

As for Rich Rod and Mallet, here is WVUs recruiting rank according to Rivals from 2004-2007, respectively: 47, 31, 52, and 23. These are the players who just stomped on Oklahoma. This is a testament to Rodriguez’s coaching ability (not an indictment of Rivals… obviously from the above, the site does have merit). Mallet is too foolish or maybe just to short sighted to see that Rich Rod has brought along players arguably better than any coach in college football, and that his system (actually as evidenced by the stats Sru provided) is highly adaptable. 70% run at WVU, 55% at Tulane. Notable difference, no? That sounds like the effect of having a running QB vs. not having one to me. Nothing about this shows me that if he had a prototypical pro-style passer he wouldn’t air it out more. If anything it is evidence that he would. If Rich Rod has showed (and told) us anything it’s that he is not necessarily looking to implement the WVU offense at Michigan, but rather adapt his spread style to the players we have. From the Capital One Bowl, it seems pretty clear that has a lot of potential. I for one do not see how that’s a problem.

I don't want to judge but if folks are calling out Mallet then how can they want Pryor in the same breath? Yes, I've never met Pryor and he hasn't stepped a foot in A2 but the same exact grumblings about Mallet exist around Pryor as well -- I'm just saying.

Personally, I'd love to see what U of M's GT transfer can do in a game plan similar to what we saw in the Cap One Bowl.

And as far as recruiting goes, one cannot compare WVU to U of M. R2 is going to have access to parts of the country he never has before. R2 has also stated on more than one occasion that he molds the system to the players. R2 doesn't recruit only small and fast... he did the best with what he could. Furthermore, there's nothing written in stone that says thou shalt do at Michigan as R2 did at WVU or Tulane.

Personally I could give a shit about the offense other than I'm giddy at the prospect of not seeing run to the left, run to the left, TE screen, punt anymore!

If one blows off an organized team function, and they do it in less than professional manner, and compounding things is the blow off is done to a the new boss, then that new boss may just hasten some movement out the door.

Well obviously he HAS to adapt it to the players you have now for the first year or two - but i'd be surprised if he doesn't start implementing the 65% run/pass balance once he's able to start recruiting HIS type of players.

as for rivals - sure there are going to be some great players on there - but since 2004, there have been 400 players on there - i'd be surprised if more than half would be regarded as top 100 players anymore. you brought up the lack of rivals 100 players as proof that he's able to get it done with less talent. i'm saying rivals 100 doesn't mean you are a top 100 talent - it means you have talent AND hype.

hey time will tell - i'm very interested to see what happens in AA over the next two years. personally i think pryor goes elsewhere, along with rm, aa, and mm and everyone that graduated (or used up their eligibility) and you guys end up losing 3 or 4 games next year. it's just an opinion, probably not an objective one. i see osu ranked #5 or 6 to start 2008, lose early to usc, drop to #10, then rise up each week back to a top 2 spot as they go unbeaten in the big ten. then have to play georgia in the mnc game in miami - i can't even fathom the bad press they'll deservedly get for the 50 some odd days between The Game and the mnc. we just have a ton of talent coming back, hopefully with a chip on their shoulder.

anyway , this is actually a pretty good discussion - you guys have reason to be excited and it shows

I just let myself have a dumb fantasy of Threet and Pryor rotating like Leak and Tebow. Probably won't ever happen, I just hope it isn't like ND early last fall when it was a clusterfuck deciding which unready QB was going to by the guy.

Freep says Mallett is officially gone:

The former Texas Class 4A offensive player of the year may end up at Tennessee, which is considering hiring former Michigan offensive coordinator Mike DeBord and quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler.

“If they’re hired, that would be a real good possibility,” Jim Mallett said. “Ryan really clicked with both coach DeBord and coach Loeffler during the last couple months of the season and during bowl practices, I’ve never seen Ryan throw the ball or read defenses as well as he did.”

Mallett was like an underperforming stock. He was either going to skyrocket or tank. The downside wasn't terrible as long as Threet was around as insurance. As of now, it's Threet and no depth beyond him.

With Mallett leaving, we better hope to God we get Pryor. I've heard alot about how Mallett's decision will affect Pryor's decision, but we will just have to see.

I'll say it, if Michigan doesn't do well this season coming up, I'll still be a fan, I'll still enjoy every upcoming Saturday. But, guarantee if it is not a smooth season in 2008, the 2009 will bring much success. Maybe it will this season.

But, we shouldn't worry about who will be Quarterbacking, and what our Wide Receivers will do. The college football season is only 2 days over and it's eight months until kickoff. Alot could happen from now until then.

Word is Pryor will be making his decision at the end of the month. The recruiters are very optimistic in pulling in a full 25 strong recruit class (current count at 17). I'm not sweating it and neither should the rest of the Wolverine Nation.

I didn't have time early, I see now that someone mentioned Threet. I really think this kid could do something with R2, so I am pleased that we have him. I love that R2 is acting like it is no big deal that we are losing the players that we are. I read in some article that he said "we will be fine" (or ok, or something to that nature). If you look at it like some have, the fact that he took mediocre talent at WVU and created great players, tells you that whomever we have,(at least the caliber that he is familiar with working if not better) he can do something with them. As I mentioned in my first post, I think we must be careful to not expect the world in the first season. It could take some time to iron out the wrinkles, but I am nearly giddy with excitement over the whole thing!

One of the things I loved about Carr was his stoic integrity. I am not sure that anyone could come into this program and resemble that. I do hope that R2 has enough sense and less of an ego (then I am afraid that he has) that he can learn a few things from Carr. I do think that he has handled the WVU fan thing with some fairly good poise though, which is a great sign.

In any case, you’re correct that Rivals is not always a fool proof endorsement, but that said, they have really pegged a number of great players over the years, and it stands to reason that the more of those guys you have, the better shot of getting one of the standouts. You should be happy to hear this given the number of these guys OSU has been able to snare this year.

As far as Rich Rod’s coaching style of choice, I will say this. I agree that I think he ideally likes to implement the option spread and employ a mobile quarterback. Maybe that’s why Mallett was so eager to leave, he just didn’t see himself beating out Pryor for the job (should he choose to come) and had to play his hand first. We’ll never know. That all said though, I still don’t see any reason to believe that Rich Rod won’t look for dual threat guys, especially now that he can offer the program prestige and history that these top-tier, highly recruited guys are looking for. Obviously, selling Michigan is a hell of a lot easier than selling WVU. Rich Rod would be foolish (and he isn’t) not to seek out running/throwing guys like Pryor into the future. It fits his ideal game plan, and they’ll actually be willing to come (or at least entertain the notion of coming), whereas at WVU he was stuck picking from Big Ten/ACC/SEC leftovers.

As far as next season goes, I would be happy with only losing 3-4 games. It’s a clear transition year, and Lloyd has left Rich Rod in a difficult spot from a talent/experience standpoint. ESPN is reporting now that Mallett is gone (take that with a grain of salt these days, but it seems to be from the father, so probably accurate) and he’s the only other QB in maize and blue to see the field during meaningful minutes in the past 4 years. Arrington is out the door. I agree with Yost on this one in that he really can’t improve his draft position that much by staying, especially with what will likely be a true frosh or sophomore running the show under center. Manningham on the other hand could answer a lot of questions, but in the end, I think NFL dollars will trump Michigan degrees. We have tough matchups with tOSU at the shoe, Wisconsin at home, Illinois at home and PSU on the road (though they’ll have some questions of their own to answer on both sides of the ball). Notre Dame in South Bend will also be interesting. They can’t be as bad as they were this year, can they? And also, while MSU, Minnesota and the like should be pushovers, they still view us as rivals, as off base as that seems to some UM fans, and they’ll come to play. In any case, it should be a very interesting Big Ten season all around.

I wouldn’t count your chickens with OSU just yet. Tressel still can’t seem to figure out that option spread, and while Mendenhall is gone, Illinois still has a lot of speed and talent in that offense. Not to mention the good number of the newly emerged superstars down in Columbus that may be on their way to greener ($$$) pastures (Gholston, Wells, Lauranitis, etc.) That may be less of an issue down there, you definitely have some of those guys on the payroll already, but it’s hard to turn down the thought of going first round, especially if you’re Beanie Wells and you know as a running back you have a short shelf life. Anyway, all I’m saying is the Bucks almost always seem to drop one cheap one so I wouldn’t be too confident that you’re going to run the table in the Big Ten.

Agree on great comments from all. Further rationale for my appreciation and respect for this site.

You missed the point. We don't explicitly know what "his" style of players are. R2 was on the sidelines for the Florida game. He may have been impressed with Michigan's line. He may have been impressed with other positions. I'd wager that R2 would give his left one for a Jake Long type to come to his program. And Michigan has been churning out those types of linemen for quite some time.

R2, for the first time, is going to have access to all types of players. And I'm sure R2 has a soft spot for some size and strength. Look at WVU's fullback from this past season. That animal not only blocked, but got some carries, and even ran patterns occasionally.

have been away all day, but this is a fascinating, multi facet thread. i know at least sru is DYING to hear what i think (sru- find away around the office firewall or just get another job?), soooo...

Coaches on TV- we need to get used to it.

the stoics died w/Bo & Lloyd was the cult's last member. coaches are now media personalities (how about Urban monday night?). all the top coaches have a "persona", even sweaterboy (his is just purposely "dull").

when was the last time you saw Lloyd on TV? on rome's show? forget the content, R2 has been on ESPN more in a month than Lloyd in 13 years.

Mallett- his leaving is NOT the problem!

first, what was R2 supposed to say? if he follows the lloyd route & says nothing? we all complain & ask "what happened?". now we know- he asked him to stay, the kid decided to go. buh-bye.

second, this is a problem because of Lloyd, not R2. why the F do we only have 1 frosh QB anyway? what if Lloyd had not retired & Mallet blows a knee in the 1st game or spring practice? we're in this spot because we don't have any back ups now. we played the whole season w/ a true frosh as back up & were going into next year w/ the same problem, w/ or w/out Mallet.

stock/mutual fund ads always say that. isn't it true for predicting future recruiters? who knew what kind of players sweater boy would get @ tosu? he was a DI-AA coach & had never played the big venues. what if you hire an SEC coach who's never been north of Lexington?

and in R2's case, how do we know who he's going to go after? 93 nailed that R2's prior players/game plans were determined by the players available. he's never had a tom brady or chad henne in his program. the top QB picks end up here, or USC, or some other "top shelf" program. even as big as the Rutgers or WVU's get, they're still not destinations.

who's to say R2 won't go after the tom bradys & run a passing spread, now that he's somewhere where he can get a tom brady?

ultimately, my point is that predicting who he is going to recruit here based on who he recruited to wvu is like predicting who les miles would recruit to lsu based on who he recruited to Ok State. different school, different opportunity.

and sru, thanks for the props on yesterday's post. my informal "poll" of tosu fans/friends is about 30/70 on monday nite. 70%- "we were just a play(or penalty) or two away from winning that"; 30%- "damn, that's 9 losses in the last four seasons & 7 of those were to spread/zone option/other funky non pro style teams & this is beginning to look like a trend?".

Well, Adrian Arrington has officially declared for the NFL Draft. Does anyone besides me think that he went a bit too early? I know he is a durable receiver but if he had stayed another year and had a really great season, his stock would rise considerably. Blow to the Michigan offense but a good pick up to whichever NFL team drafts him.

This probably means that Manningham is on his way out. Although I would like him to stay another year, he is capable of being a big play receiver in the NFL. I will enjoy watching Arrington and Manningham play on Sunday's next season and I hope they have great success in their NFL Careers. Who knows, maybe one of them will end up going to the same team Henne will be going to.

As for Ryan Mallett. I loved his talent but if he wants to be a dick and leave fine by me. He never got along with Mario and seemed to be a wee bit cocky at times. Read this quote from his father.."It just wasn't a fit and yet, it was a hard decision," Jim Mallett said. "When he came home for Christmas, he told me and my wife that he really was falling in love with being at Michigan."

Oh really? He was falling in love with Michigan so much he had to get away from all of his love for the school and transfer. Makes sense to me.

After signing day last year the QB depth chart was like an embarrassment of riches -- Henne, Forcier, Mallett, and then Threet came in sometime over the summer. Those were four extremely high-quality QBs, all plausible starters at BCS schools. Forcier left because he figured he couldn't leapfrog Mallett; Mallet's gone; now it's just Threet. Lloyd didn't slack at recruiting QBs. This isn't an issue of someone screwing up but the predictable difficulties in a transition. It'll get solved, possibly with Pryor, but maybe not. Whatever bumps there are, don't sound like a Domer blaming Willingham.

Second, media personality, fine, although how ESPN appearances for the sake of ESPN appearances benefit the program, I have no idea. I don't think he quite crossed a line, but after Weis ripped the transfers during the bloodletting there last season and Meyer said last week that he's not going to miss any seniors, criticizing outgoing players to the press doesn't seem to have a noble precedent. Mallett's not Eugene Germany, Rodriguez hasn't lost face in the transfer, and gratuitously antagonizing a guy who wasn't exactly the team figurehead seems pretty and pointless. Mallet leaving is like switching jobs after your company's bought out; it wasn't anti-Michigan, and if he stayed it would have been more of a testament to the program and Rodriguez than it is an insult that he's moving on. Utter some platitudes and leave him alone.

Otherwise, I think you're right about the unpredictability of who he'll recruit and what he'll try to do. Should be a fun time for the program.

you probably didn't mean the reference to "not be a domer" to be as insulting as i took it, but if you ever do it again, i'll send my dog over to your house to crap in your yard. being compared to a "domer" in any aspect (except maybe hair loss) just isn't something w/ which i can abide.

as for the QB situation, ok, it's not Lloyd's "fault". however, the fact is we had two QB's available to play this season- Mallett & Henne. we had prior to this a.m., two on the roster- mallett & threet (which is, for practical purposes, one- mallet).

however you care to explain it, that circumstance exists entirely absent of R2's involvement. if Lloyd had never retired, R2 never had left WVa, we'd still be thin @ QB.

now, mallet leaving? that's a result of the coaching change. that we have little in the way of alternatives right now? that problem existed before R2. maybe that's not Lloyd's fault, but there's nothing R2 could have done to prevent it.

the tv appearances are potentially a HUGE asset for the program. these are 17 year old kids we are targeting for the team. they listen to ipods, play xbox, and watch cable- espn & mtv. kids connect through e-media. they don't read newspapers and don't listen to old people (like me).

for a coach, being seen as savvy, connected, and wired is a huge connection. old guys like me, and my middle aged sense of "good form", isn't who they're aiming for (much like most of network programming).

and i'm sorry, but i like people who say what they're thinking. R2 said he tried to recruit mallett, and mallett blew him off. it it's true, i'm glad he said it.

how's that an insult to mallett?unless mallet wanted to stay and thinks R2 blew him off, i don't see an insult there.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008Mallett says he felt 'forced out' because of U-M coach Rodriguez's offenseAngelique S. Chengelis / The Detroit NewsRyan Mallett said the decision was difficult but, ultimately, he could not see himself playing in Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez's system.

Mallett, who saw significant playing time in the 2007 season, is no longer with the Wolverines. He left Ann Arbor at 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday to make the long drive back home to Arkansas.

"I felt like I was forced out because of the offense that's coming in," Mallett said by phone during his drive. "I was recruited to be a drop-back passer. I have nothing against coach Rod, but the system is forcing me out."

This was not an easy decision for Mallett, who said he is looking at a number of schools and will have to sit out a season after transferring. Former Michigan quarterbacks coach Scot Loeffler, who recruited Mallett, is interviewing with several programs, including UCLA, Texas A&M and Tennessee. He had his second interview with Tennessee on Wednesday.

Mallett said he is not necessarily going to the school at which Loeffler lands, but said if he visits the school and likes it, having Loeffler there would be a bonus.

"I'm not leaning one way or the other," Mallett said. "I've been talking to some schools, and I'll make a decision in about a week."

Mallett played in 11 games and was 61-of-141 for 892 yards and seven touchdowns. He saw increased playing time because of injuries to starter Chad Henne.

"It was tough," Mallett said of his decision to leave. "Even though I felt forced out, I made a lot of gains. I'm not upset, and I'm not bitter.

"I'll always be a Michigan man, even though for the next few years I'll be wearing the colors of a different school."

Mallett said he did not immediately decide to leave Michigan when Rodriguez was hired. Mallett said he made the first call to Michigan's new coach and they met in person, he said, for about five minutes.

"I was still feeling it out," Mallett said. "I'm sure he could have (molded the system around Mallett), but it's still the spread game. Tell me how many guys have run the spread and made it past college to the next level? I'm not thinking about the next level right now, but I just felt it was best for me to move on."

Mallett and Rodriguez had three conversations, including one shortly after the bowl game, Mallett said.

Rodriguez said Tuesday on a national radio show that he made several attempts to convince Mallett to stay.

"I talked to him and all our quarterbacks about how our system adapts to the quarterback," Rodriguez said. "If we get a throwing quarterback, we've had ones who have gone on to have great careers and to the NFL and all that.

"But I (spoke to Mallett) a couple of times. I recruited him once, I recruited him twice, but after the third call, it's, 'OK, three times is enough for me.' If somebody doesn't want to be here, then we should all move along."

Mallett did not attend a team meeting with Rodriguez on Monday.

When Rodriguez was asked by reporters Tuesday night at the Michigan basketball game about Mallett, he made it clear the quarterback was no longer part of the program.

"I don't care," Rodriguez said. "He's not playing for Michigan. I'm concerned with who's playing for Michigan."

Mallett enrolled early at Michigan last January. He said it was an up-and-down experience, but he grew to love Michigan and his teammates.

"Coming in early, it helped me a lot, and it hurt me," Mallett said. "I didn't progress those first three or four months, because I missed home.

"But I learned a lot about football. I've grown over the past year a lot. I'm leaving a lot of good friends."

He wanted to clear the air about the Wisconsin game, the second-to-last game of the regular season. Henne started but was pulled early because of his shoulder injury. The Wolverines lost, but the captured television image of Mallett and star receiver Mario Manningham in what appeared to be a heated argument sparked plenty of talk.

"People made a big deal with that Mario thing in Wisconsin," Mallett said. "We weren't bickering. We were trying to get on the same page. We weren't arguing. We were in the heat of the moment."

Mallett plans to visit a few friends during his drive from Ann Arbor to his parents' home and will arrive there on Friday. Between now and then, he said, he will have plenty of time to think.

What he knows, though, is that he leaves Michigan with good feelings.

"There were a couple of tough times, but a lot of good times, and I'm going to remember the good times at Michigan," Mallett said. "I had a great experience. I couldn't have any regrets

If I were a big time receiver, I'd get the hell out too, unless you like running the bubble screen every third play with an occasional post pattern. As for Mallet, I can't really blame him either. In RRod's first season at WVU he had a similar QB(admittedly with less talent) and the team went 3-8. In 2005, RRod started the season with another normal "pocket passer" and the team looked horrible. He lucked out when that QB was injured and Pat White entered the game. White has started ever since and RRod suddenly became a genius

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